In the past three years, Sabrina Carpenter has gone from an underdog to a household name: topping charts, selling out arenas, bagging awards and finally earning critical acclaim her fans thought she long deserved. Her previous album, “Short n’ Sweet,” earned her six Grammy nominations and won her Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance for Espresso. So, this newfound success left many anticipating her next move.
Carpenter released the title track on June 5 with a music video following the next day and on June 11, Carpenter announced via social media her seventh album titled “Man’s Best Friend” would be released on Aug. 29., produced with her frequent collaborators, Jack Antonoff and John Ryan. The announcement shook the internet for both the quick production turn around and the imagery revealed with the rollout. With the stage set, the only way to comprehensively rate this album is by examining it track by track.
On first listen, Man’s Best Friend is everything a pop fan could want: fun, upbeat hits built to blast on every radio station and summer playlist. The production and vocals are strong and she executes them with confidence. But, Carpenter’s lyricism has significantly deteriorated since “Short n’ Sweet,” and even “Emails I Can’t Send.”
My main issue, however, lies with the cover art, which depicts Carpenter on her hands and knees, hair yanked by a suited man. In 2025, with misogyny and intimate partner violence still such raw realities, imagery like this isn’t playful, clever or even satirical. It’s dangerous to glorify power imbalances in relationships and trivialize abuse.
Thematically, the songwriting is just as male centered as the cover art. It sounds like Carpenter went through a healthy breakup. She has no reason to employ imagery that she was used and abused. What makes this even more frustrating is that Carpenter doesn’t need to rely on shock value to sell records. She has the vocals, the songwriting skills and the aesthetic eye to make a strong album without leaning on imagery like this.
Ultimately, the album is decent and I have already added many tracks to my playlist. Still, it’s not some profound, artistic project that is too deep for the average person to understand, and that’s okay. But paired with cover art as provocative as this, it reads as degrading rather than purposeful art, undermining what is otherwise straightforward, enjoyable pop.
